BROOKLINE, MA – MARCH 24: A business posts a sign alerting its customers that it is closed in Coolidge Corner in Brookline, MA during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city empties out a day after Governor Charlie Baker issued a stay at home advisory for all non-essential workers as a way to reduce the spread of coronavirus and flatten the COVID-19 curve. (Photo by Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Small businesses in and around Boston have lost a higher percentage of their revenue during the Covid-19 pandemic than their counterparts in almost every other major U.S. metropolitan area, including hard-hit cities like New York, according to a new Harvard-developed data tracker.
As of April 25, total small-business revenue had decreased by 74.9% in Suffolk County compared to early January, according to Harvard University’s Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker, which provides close to real-time data on the pandemic’s economic effects.
Nationwide, the revenue fell by 39.8% over the same time period. Only two major metro areas tracked by Opportunity Insights performed worse: New Orleans, which saw an 83.8% decline, and Washington, with a 76.7% decline. The Opportunity Insights data track the county most closely assigned with a city, a spokeswoman said. In addition to Boston, Suffolk County includes Revere, Chelsea and Winthrop.
